Online devo: Salad

Hi everybody, and welcome back to my kitchen table! I’m delighted to share with you another recipe tonight, this time one that veers a bit from the baking genre, but is perfect for this upcoming Memorial Day weekend. I’ll also share a couple of tips for how to store and present a salad that makes it an irresistible hit at your table. Of course, we’ll also spend some time reflecting on kingdom life, and how we can continue to serve the Lord with gladness in this season.

Let’s start with the main salad components. As always, I’ll post the full recipe in the comments down below so you can look it up and print for your own use later. In this bowl we have the following ingredients: 1 red bell pepper, sliced thinly; 3-4 cups chopped purple cabbage; 1 lb of cooked chicken; fresh cilantro (you can use fresh basil if you prefer, but nobody in our family hates cilantro and it’s a lot cheaper); and one package of noodles. These are soba noodles, which is a buckwheat-based noodle. They have a slightly nuttier taste and are higher in fiber. 

Now, if you look in this bowl, this combination of raw ingredients could go a lot of different ways. In Italy, this could turn into a delicious pasta dish. In Vietnam, perhaps this could all be simmered into a bowl of pho. In England, they’d no doubt transform all this into colorless, tasteless sludge. (Roy made me promise to say that. I don’t really feel that way about British cuisine!) We share, globally, a lot of the same foods; but in the preparation of these foods we see how each area, each community, lovingly shapes those ingredients into something uniquely satisfying.

Last week during our cookie-baking, we talked about elements of worship. We reminded ourselves that, just like a chocolate chip cookie isn’t just chocolate chips; worship isn’t just the music. There are lots of different ingredients that are called for through scripture to bring honor and glory to God. We’d miss the mark if we zeroed in on only one or two to the exclusion of everything else!

This week, we want to take those elements and now talk about Pearce’s “core worship values.” Just like the elements in this bowl can be transformed into a myriad of different dishes; the way I interpret and craft worship elements can, and I think should, be viewed through a Pearce-specific lens. We worship through song--so what songs represent the Pearce family and community? We worship through prayer--so how do we pray in a way that reflects who we are? We worship through the sacraments--again, how can we do this in a way that best honors God and rings true with our little family here in North Chili?

Let me tell you--as worship director--It’s very, very easy to get overwhelmed with various viewpoints, opinions, and priorities when it comes to answering these questions! So to help in this process; a few years ago I was privileged to serve on a small team of gifted leaders in crafting a document for Pearce. We sought to answer the very questions I asked above and, over the process of many months sought wisdom and guidance from the Lord, and each other. The end result was a document called “Christian Worship at Pearce Church.” In it we define the word “worship” and list 6 “core values” for Pearce. These values have become a primary source of guidance to me as I plan worship services. If somebody comes to me with an idea for a service element, or a request, or really anything; I hold it up to these values. Does it line up? Is it enacting our definition of worship? If so, we as a Lead Staff are ready to run with it! If it doesn’t, or at least poses some questions, the worship values help guide our thought process as we consider the plusses and minuses. This is a document that was on our website a few years ago, but I’m not sure it’s there anymore. However, the Lead Staff, just a few months ago, enthusiastically reaffirmed this document unanimously, so you can be sure that it is still relevant and very, very important to our church family. I’d love to take a few moments to walk through it together:

Definition of Worship:

“Worship is the expression of a relationship in which God the Father reveals Himself and His love in Christ and by His Holy Spirit administers grace to which we respond in faith, gratitude and obedience.” – In His Presence: Appreciating Your Worship Tradition, Robert Schaper, 1984

Core Values: (Remember: the word worship doesn’t just equal music!)

· Trinitarian – Christian worship flows from and responds to the action of one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our prayers, preaching, and praise reflect our participation in the Son’s communion with the Father through the Spirit.

· Scripture Filled – Christian worship is saturated with God’s word, revealing His story which gives meaning to our lives. Worship gathers us as God’s people to sing God’s story in song, tell God’s story through the scriptures, preaching, and testimony, and enact God’s story through the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

· Dialogical – Christian worship is a conversation initiated by God to which we respond in faith, gratitude, and obedience. The elements of worship guide us in this loving conversation with our God.

· Communal – Christian worship reflects the truth that we cannot love God without loving the whole body of Christ. Across all human distinctions and boundaries we resist the radical individualism of our day and strive to listen to God’s voice with one heart, responding together as those unified in Christ.

· Spiritually Formative – Christian worship purposes to transform our lives. Every element of communal worship is designed to heighten our opportunity to be transformed to the image of Christ.

· Culturally Contextual – Christian worship expresses the character and personality of our congregation in its local context. The Gospel is proclaimed and responded to in a manner that frees us to worship God in ways that are historic and dynamic.

I think it’s very easy to hear all of those things and say, “oh yeah, of course we want scripture in our services. Of course we believe in the Trinity. Of course when we’re at church we are in “Community.” But friends, I have to tell you, as somebody who grew up in the pews every time the doors were open, once I really started to think about these things in earnest (which was probably about 8 years ago)--to see the simple and profound beauty of what corporate worship is--it brings Pearce to life in an entirely new way for me. What we do together is different than what we do alone. And when we really sink our teeth into these values in the light of the Pearce family, I believe we become a more loving, gracious, generous community. I’m going to post the Core Values below in the comments as well, and strongly encourage you to save them, reflect over them, let them simmer for a while.

Meanwhile, we are going to take our elements here in this bowl--just like our universal elements of worship--and decide how to gussy them up into something that’s specifically delicious for our context. In this instance, we’re going to go Asian--Japanese specifically. By whipping up a delicious sauce we’re going to transform this into a wonderfully flavorful, satisfying salad that can serve as a side dish or a main, and is definitely perfect for your Memorial Day celebrations, wherever and however they may be.

So let’s talk about the sauce: into a blender or food processor you’re going to want to combine: peanut butter, water, soy sauce (I opt for low sodium), sesame oil (optional, but delicious), honey, lime juice, a peeled garlic clove, and chili sauce--we’re using sriracha here. The recipe calls for ¼ c but I dial that down to 2-3T. I want the kids to eat it… Let’s blend all of these things together. Now we’re going to add ½ c peanuts (salted or unsalted is fine)--and we’re going to pulse those in until you get the texture you want. I like mine a little chunkier so just a few pulses will be fine.

Now let’s add that sauce to the big bowl and give it a toss. I like to use tongs here to make sure everything is truly “tossed” and evenly coated. One of the lovely things about this salad is that you can serve it warm (with your noodles and chicken) or cold, so it can flex with your schedule. 

Here’s a quick presentation tip for you: I like to put salads like this in a 9x13 dish. If you have one with a fitted lid, all the better! You can stack things easily on top of this in the fridge, and I think it makes for a better visual when you have a larger surface area to show off your salad. So I’m going to transfer this over to my 9x13 here. Another presentation tip is to save a little fresh herb and some chopped peanuts to just scatter on the top. I think it’s easier to serve too from a wider container and you don’t have to go digging for the good stuff!

So there you have it--a wonderful salad; and a little education on Pearce’s Core Worship Values. Even if you don’t memorize those values, I think it’s worth remembering that they exist, that they are central to my job and philosophy of worship at Pearce, and, because of that, they impact you too!

Now, I think we should all get outside to soak up the last rays of this gorgeous sunshiney evening. Sending blessings and love your way--see you this weekend!